Heart of Stone
by Proffessor Mina Song
Summary: Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff help a young girl learn to control her growing magical powers of Earth while a mysterious enemy seeks to use the growing population of magic users for their own purposes.


The courtyard fountain gurgled in the afternoon sun, it's spray arching through the air. The glittering droplets tumbled down serenely until, with a whoosh and flash of white, they froze into crystalline specks drifting in the warm summer breeze. Under the delighted watchful eyes of the two girls in the square, the curving water slowed and hardened into a twisting sculpture of ice. Another burst of bluish white followed the first and spiraled in a pyramid next to the stone fountain until a pile of snowballs lay there. A second later and an identical pile lay on the other side of the yard.

"Attention! Attention! Attention all citizens of Arrendale!" Anna's voice called through courtyard, barely holding back a laugh as she watched the two combatants before her, "I, Anna of Arrendale, call to order this, the first duel of the snowballs! Between her Highness, Elsa of Arrendale, and the challenger Kristoff of the Valley of the Living Rock. The rules are simple. Using nothing but the weapons provided, force your opponent out of their zone or off their feet. Contestants ready?"

Kristoff and Elsa stood, both poised to grab at the pile of snowballs near their feet, eager smiles on their faces. Sven, Kristoff's reindeer companion, sat on the sidelines, a snowman lounging between his antlers.

"Ready Anna!" Elsa called back, her hands in the air twitching as they waited for the duel to start.

"Ready!" Kristoff called as well, continuing in a playful taunt towards his foe, "Careful your grace, you'd be surprised how good you get with a snowball when you work in the ice business."

"I'll keep that in mind." Elsa replied in the same playful tone, "Do try to take it easy on me won't you?" She batted her eyes, laughing when Anna gave a loud cough to draw their attention back.

"IF the two combatants are done chatting...let's begin! On your marks, get set, snow!"

As soon as the words were past her lips the two of them dove towards the small pyramid of snowballs. Kristoff grabbed one in each hand and hit the ground in a roll, his back to the fountain as he crouched there. Elsa was more graceful, crouching to pick up her snowballs and then leaping to the lip of the fountain, her back to the curved ice sculpture in one fluid turn. The two of them, sized up the other for a moment, snowballs in hand. And then, they struck. Standing and turning, Kristoff threw one of his snowballs which exploded into powder against the edge of the barrier in front of Elsa who lobbed her first snowball high so that it arced up and over the ice towards Kristoff's head. When he looked up towards it, one arm lifting to protect his face, she crouched and darted out from behind the frozen fountain, her second snowball firing straight at his exposed face. Kristoff looked down just in time to receive a face full of white powder. Spitting out the snowy dust, he looked over at the the laughing faces of Anna and Olaf, even Sven looked amused. He scowled.

"You're gonna pay for that one snow queen." he said, throwing his second snow ball at the ground between Elsa and her pile of ammunition causing her to jump back, her hands empty of anything to throw. She darted forward twice more but each time Kristoff's snowballs forced her back.

"You want to play that game reindeer-boy?" Elsa called, peeking out from behind the frozen fountain, "Fine, then I won't hold back either." Lifting her arms and pointing them at the snowball sniper, she flicked her wrist and newly formed snowballs flew through the air, pelting Kristoff away from his pile of ammunition while she advanced. The snowy spheres bombarded him continuously, coating him in a thin coat of white. Elsa paused, bringing her hands together and spinning the swirling blue white energy together to form a large ball of snow. Kristof, staggering slightly, used the short reprieve from fire to wipe at his eyes, clearing the snow obstructing his vision just in time to see a snow ball the size of Sven flying towards him. Flattened instantly, Kristoff surfaced eventually to laughs from the sidelines, where Anna was leaning on Sven's antlers, shaking with mirth.

"Think that's funny? You try it!" Kristoff said mischievously, scooping some of the crumbling mound into a ball and launching it at her. It struck her dead on, knocking her back into Sven's fluffy hindquarters.

"Alright now you're asking for it!" she called, a smile of her own in place as she dashed forward, "Let's get him Elsa!" The two sisters ran forward, Elsa summoning a cloud of snow as she went which blanketed the yard in white. Scooping up snowballs as they ran, the pair forced him once again into a retreat.

"Come on Sven! Give me some cover!" he called, grabbing at the pile of pre-made snowballs while the reindeer dashed forward to block the salvo of snow. Soon the courtyard was filled with flying snowballs and laughter as the queen, princess, and royal ice deliverer dashed around. Seeing an exposed Elsa, Kristoff threw a snowball with all his strength. It missed by inches and instead came to a stop in the face of a tall, thin, nervous looking man clutching a cap as he slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door into the yard. Sputtering he took a step back and the flying snowballs stopped as the trio stared in alarm and worry at the man.

"Queen- Queen Elsa?" the man asked, brushing the remnants of the snowball from his face, "Is this a, ummmm, is this a bad time?"

"No, no of course not." Elsa said quickly, striding forward and melting the snow with a wave of her hands, "I apologize for my friend, how may we help you?"

"Well," the man said slowly, twisting his cap in his hands, "you know that after your return from North Mountain and the ending of the eternal winter sorcery was no longer a source of fear. And now, those with it are slowly revealing their secret and it's accepted but..." He trailed off, his cap nearly unidentifiable in his hands.

"What is it?" Anna asked kindly, stepping forward and laying a hand on his arm, "Has someone been threatening you because of your magic?"

"Threaten? Me? No nothing of the sort." the man said quickly waving his hands in denial, his now untwisted cap flapping, "It's just, I know that you have experience with learning how to control troublesome powers and I was wondering if you could offer some instruction." He looked behind him and motioned forward and a young slender waif of a girl in a ruffled skirt and blouse stepped shyly forward, hugging the man's knee. "My daughter, Bella Terrere. She possesses the magic of Earth."

Elsa, Kristoff, and Anna stood together, looking towards the small girl who hid her face in her father's leg, shooting glances at them every few seconds with large bright hazel eyes flecked with green and gold. Kneeling and smiling welcomingly, Anna beckoned the child closer.

"Hello Bella," she said kindly, "my name is Anna. It's very nice to meet you." Bella looked up hesitantly at Anna's voice. Then, looking up at her father who nodded encouragingly, she released her hold on his leg and took a step forward, staring shyly at her shoes.

"Hello Princess." she mumbled, "My papa says you can help me with the stone me?" She looked up hopefully as Anna glanced at Elsa confusedly.

"If the stone you is your magic then yes we will most definitely try to help you." the queen said, bending down towards the child and smiling as well, "I know what it can be like to not be in control of your powers." Straightening up again, she turned to Kristoff. "I know far more about ice than rock, but the trolls are practically rocks themselves. Can you send a message to them to ask for help with a user of stone magic?"

"Oooh oooh I'll go!" Olaf shouted excitedly running forward as fast as his snowball legs could manage, "I loooove those guys! They give the best hugs eeeeever!" Rolling his eyes amusedly, Kristoff scooped up the snowman and placed him on Sven's back.

"Alright, Olaf when you get there, tell Grand Pabbie that a child of Earth has come to the palace for help controlling her sorcery and we need an expert. " he said before looking towards Sven, "Sven, get Olaf home and make sure he delivers the message. If he's getting distracted, start eating him." The reindeer nodded and set out through the gates past Bella and her father.

"So, like my sister said," Anna continued, "we have a little experience with uncontrolled powers. What's been happening with you dear? How are your powers causing you trouble." Bella's father stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Bella is a very kind girl I assure you your majesty." he said honestly, "She would not hurt a fly. But she also does not take well to bullies and...one boy who had stolen her doll and was teasing her got punched in the chest." The three of them looked at the man in confusion.

"Well sir," Anna sad slowly, "I don't see much wrong with that. It's good to stand up to bullies, even if that does involve a little violence." The man frowned at them in alarm.

"She broke three of his ribs, she was scared to go outside again for weeks." he said, obviously startled at their apparent lack of concern.

"She did what?" Kristoff said, shocked, "Three ribs? But she's so..so..small!" The trio stared at the girl, who returned to hiding behind her father's legs, wondering how such a frail looking child had caused such injury.

"Oh!" the man exclaimed, remembering something, "I probably should have mentioned her arm was like this at the time. Show them baby." Slowly, Bella crept out from behind her father again and lifted her right arm, the other supporting it underneath. As they watched, a grey tinge spread from her outstretched fingers down her arm to her elbow as her flesh turned to solid stone.

"Oh." Elsa, said softly, staring at the smooth rock arm that looked as though it had been chiseled from the finest marble, "I suppose that explains the ribs..."


End file.
